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Psychiatry
Neuroscience of Psychedelics Atai Fellowship
The atai Fellowship within the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics at Mass General will provide graduate students with the resources to pursue cutting-edge research on therapeutic psychedelics and other neuroplasticity modulators.
Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics
Explore this Fellowship
About the Neuroscience of Psychedelics Atai Fellowship
The atai Fellowship Fund in Psychedelic Neuroscience (“atai Fellowship”) within the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics at Massachusetts General Hospital will provide graduate students and other trainees with time and resources to pursue cutting-edge research to uncover the fundamental mechanisms of action and key properties of therapeutic psychedelics and other neuroplasticity modulators. Awardees will be selected with a focus on advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the psychedelic field. The students will be primarily recruited from institutions of higher learning in the Greater Boston area.
Fellowship Details
- The atai Fellowship will support each research fellow in the amount of $50,000 per annum (direct costs only), reviewed by a Steering Committee
- Applications will be considered based on the proposed research project as well as the applicant’s vision of psychedelic research for the field of mental health and their commitment to the values of diversity, equity and inclusion
- The atai Fellowship is meant to support the launch of a research project with the expectation that the support will be leveraged to seek other sources of financial support to take over from Fellowship funding, the search of which is to be included in the annual report
Eligibility
Master’s degree students, students currently enrolled in a PhD or MD/PhD program, and researchers already holding a MD can apply.
Applications will be considered as a joint proposal between a graduate student/trainee and a Principal Investigator (PI). As such, applicants can be considered at any point in their training but should already have selected a host laboratory and discussed a research project with their PI.
Applicants from Harvard University will be considered after a student has joined or coincident with joining a laboratory for their thesis project.
Applicants from universities in the greater Boston area should demonstrate a collaborative connection to Harvard University or Mass General.
If required for the project, the host laboratory must demonstrate the capability to support research with controlled substances.
Once Funded
Our goal is to build a fellowship of young investigators across multiple institutions who share the same aspiration of expanding our knowledge of psychedelic neuroscience for mental health. Expectations and hopes for the recipients of this fellowship include:
- Participation to an introductory meeting with the rest of the cohort followed by bi-monthly check-ins.
- Building community with the cohort, including previously funded students, and forming collaborations with other Mass General investigators.
- Mentoring of future Fellowship recipients.
- Students will be expected to participate in a monthly seminar series, to present their findings, and to exchange ideas with other members of the Center for the Neuroscience of Psychedelics
- Recipients will be required to produce an annual report on their progress, similar to reporting for awards such as NIH-funded T32 grants
Application Process
Applications are now closed. A new application period will open in Spring 2024
Fellowship Leadership
Stephen Haggarty, PhD, Program Co-Director
Director, MGH Chemical Neurobiology Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital
Investigator, Center for Genomic Medicine, Mass General Research Institute
Stuart & Suzanne Steele MGH Research Scholar (2017-2022), Mass General Research Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital
Associate Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School
Jacob Hooker, PhD, Program Co-Director
Investigator, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Mass General Research Institute
Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport MGH Research Scholar, Massachusetts General Hospital
Lurie Family Professor of Radiology in the Field of Autism Research, Harvard Medical School
Contact
Please contact program coordinator Lauriane Sibileau or program co-directors Stephen J. Haggarty, PhD and Jacob Hooker, PhD with questions.